In the previous part, we have listed the leading marketplaces in North America. Now it’s time for some facts and figures on marketplaces that dominate the European ecommerce landscape.
In Europe, the ecommerce marketrevenue is worth $363 billion, with an expected annual growth of 7.3%. Experts estimate that by 2022 the European market volume will be worth as much as $481 billion. This is a lot considering the fact that in Europe there are 50 different countries, more than 200 languages spoken and 28+ currencies used.
Obviously, most of the action happens in just three European countries, that is, UK, Germany and France, but on our list we have also included marketplaces that are leading or growing in some other corners of Europe.
Allegro
Allegrois the largest Polish marketplace and number five on the list of Europe’s most visited online marketplaces. With 13 million active users, Allegro is a good opportunity for B2C brands and professional re-sellers to expand into Poland’s thriving €10 billion online market.
The only obstacle is language – Allegro operates only in Polish, so product listings and customer support have to be localized.
Allegro describes itself as the biggest shopping mall in Poland. Ithas significant market share in electronics (62 percent), home and garden (74 percent) and fashion (46 percent). Learn more about selling on Allegro marketplace.
Asos
ASOS is one of the largest online only fashion retailers in the world with websites in UK, Europe, USA and Australia. The company targets young sellers and having noticed the growing trend of marketplaces and selling up-and-coming designers’ clothes and handpicked boutique fashion, it has opened its own marketplace.
Asos sells over 80,000 products and there are 2,500 to 7,000 new products added everyweek. It ships to over 140 countries from fulfilment centres in the UK, US, Europe and China.
By 2017, Asos.com was generating almost£2 billion a year in revenue and has become the leading online apparel site in the UK. Since March 2018they also introduced their mobile app, which has 10 million downloads. The app allows users to upload images of clothing they like and receive a range of matching or similar items that the company stocks. ASOS claims that in the UK 58% of purchases happen on mobile devices.
Cdiscount
Cdiscountis a French marketplace with roughly 8.6 million active customers and 19 million unique visitors per month. It sells products across 40 different categories with over €1 billion in annual sales.
Since 2018 Cdiscount started delivering some items to Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain, which marked the beginning of its international expansion. Growing cross-border presence of Cdiscount is the result of its 15 percent year-on-year growth in net sales.
During the second quarter of 2018, Cdiscount customers placed 5.8 million orders for 11 million items. At the moment, the Cdiscount marketplace has 10,000 connected sellers.
Emag
Emag is the largest ecommerce site in Romania with over 500,000 unique customers each day. Sellers can list products in in over 1600 available categories.
The platform currently hosts 3,500 sellers and more than 1.4 million products, generating more than €100 million in revenue and over 1.9 million orders for marketplace partners. The highest sales are generated in the categories of car accessories, home & deco, children & toys, fashion and sport.
Flubit
Flubitthe largest UK-owned marketplace. Hosting a catalogue of over 70 million products across categories including home, garden, toys, books and electronics, it positions itselfs as a direct competitor to Amazon. At the moment, it has 1,500 UK and Irish sellers.
In November 2017, Flubit was ranked as the #10 most valuable VC-backed eCommerce company in Europe, and #2 in the UK.
In 2018, Flubit.com was acquired by the prominent blockchain technology group MonetaryUnit. The decision, at the time of the deal, would reportedly make Flubit.com the world’s largest shopping marketplace dedicated to the acceptance of cryptocurrencies.
Fruugo
Fruugois a U.K.-based marketplace available in 32 countries and has more than 25 million active users. Sellers can register once to sell across all markets available in the portfolio. The site supports 22 currencies and 17 languages.
Fruugo marketplace operates with hundreds of retailers on a no-sale, no-fee basis, and offers them translation, customer service, marketing and foreign exchange support, so the retailer only needs to fulfil the order.
Compared to its European competitors, Fruugo is a relatively young marketplace, but it is expecting 200% growth in the next few years.
Mobile.de
Mobile.de is a German marketplace for selling vehicles to businesses and consumers. The site has customers from throughout Europe and is the biggest automotive marketplace in Germany.
Its platform allows buying and selling used and new cars, motorcycles, and motorhomes and caravans, as well as trucks, and commercial and utility vehicles. The company’s platform also enables users to search dealers, as well as find financing and insurance deals.
The company was founded in 1996 and is based in Kleinmachnow, Germany, but since 2004 it operates as a subsidiary of eBay Inc.
OnBuy
OnBuy is a B2C online marketplace where third-party business sellers can list new, used or refurbished products and buyers can browse thousands of categories, compare and securely purchase with PayPal Buyer Protection.
With thousands of sellers and over 10 million products, buyers can shop from multiple sellers in a single transaction with a simple, secure checkout solution free from many online fraud risks. Thanks to its reasonable selling fees and immediate payment by PayPal, sellers will enjoy risk-free selling and access to millions of buyers with no competition from OnBuy.
The marketplace was launched in 2016 and is experiencing meteoric growth; ready to launch internationally, with an aggressive growth plan targeting more than 140 countries over the next 18 months.
OTTO
OTTO is the second biggest online retail destination in Germany and claims to be the biggest online retailer there for fashion and lifestyle products.
It originally started as an offline brand, but now 90% of its goods are sold online and it also has a marketplace, on which it sells goods itself and allows third party sellers.
The company has 9 million active customers and reaches 45% of all German households. For marketplace sellers, OTTO represents the biggest ecommerce opportunity in Germany after Amazon.
PriceMinister
PriceMinister was founded in 2001 and is a leading French marketplace with22 million members and 9 million visitors per month. This is the equivalent of one third of all internet users in France.
In 2010, it was bought by Rakuten, and has been growin steadily since then. Now it operates in 20 countries and hosts an average of more than 30,000 transactions per day, which makes it the second most visited e-commerce platform in France (behind Amazon).
PriceMinister has 11 million unique visitors per month, 130 million products listed and 5,000 active sellers.
Kaufland.de
Kaufland.de is one of the biggest and fastest growing marketplaces in Germany! Being part of the Schwarz Group, Kaufland.de belongs to one of Europe’s biggest retailers!
In 2023, Kaufland will open further online marketplaces in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.This step is the underlying foundation for the launch of the ‘Kaufland Global Marketplace’.
With just one registration sellers can sell on many country-specific marketplaces with one registration.
Over 8000 sellers offer more than 40 million products in over 5000 categories on Kaufland Global Marketplace. This attracts 32 million visitors to Kaufland.de every month.
Zalando
Zalandois a German marketplace that has expanded to multiple European markets. It’s particularly prominent in Germany, where they boast 95% brand recognition amongst adult shoppers but it has also been expanding into other countries too in recent years and opened fulfilment centres in Sweden and Belgium in 2017.
The latest figures say that they have 20 million active buyers and a 7.4% share of the Western Europe fashion market that totals $42 billion.
Zalando has more than 22 million customers and sells over 250,000 products from 2,000 merchant brands.
What to remember about when dealing with Germans?
- Punctuality is the key. You’re late, you’ve lost.
- Keep feelings and political opinions for yourself since it can be found offensive by many Germans. While it can be regarded as amazing small talk or ice-breakers in many cultures, it doesn’t work with Germans.
- Speaking German really helps. Or course, the better you speak, the better you are seen, but even basic knowledge can help.
- Straight to the point.Concrete information, details and arrangements. Germans value time more than anything!
Jobs for e-commerce professionals you can find here:
https://jooble.org/jobs-e-commerce
Read more from E-commerce Germany News:
13 leading marketplaces in North America
16 leading marketplaces in Asia
FAQs
What is the biggest ecommerce market in Europe? ›
Germany leads European ecommerce future
After the UK's exit from the EU in 2020, Germany took over as the leading representative of the EU's ecommerce market, amassing a total of 99.1 billion euros in 2021.
| Top E-Commerce Retailers Europe 2020 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rank | Company | Online sales % |
| 1 | Amazon | 100% |
| 2 | Otto Group | 57% |
| 3 | Zalando | 100% |
Amazon.de is leading the German e-commerce market, with e-commerce net sales of US$18,556 million in 2021 generated in Germany, followed by otto.de with US$6,064 million. Third place is taken by zalando.de with revenues of US$2,976 million.
How many ecommerce websites are there in Europe? ›How many ecommerce companies are there in Europe? Ecommerce Europe is the European digital commerce industry's voice. They represent over 75,000 ecommerce companies selling goods and services to European consumers online through their 19 national e-commerce associations.
Which country is No 1 in E Commerce? ›| 2020 Rank | Economy | Share of individuals using the Internet (2019 or latest) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Switzerland | 97 |
| 2 | Netherlands | 96 |
| 3 | Denmark | 97 |
| 4 | Singapore | 89 |
First, while e-commerce penetration is slightly lower in some EMEA markets than in the United States (online represented 14.4 percent of total sales in Western Europe in 2021 versus 15.3 percent in the United States). In others, it is significantly higher.
Where do Europeans shop online? ›Amazon, eBay and AliExpress are the most popular marketplaces in Europe. Well-known marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy and AliExpress have a large influence in the European ecommerce market.
How can I sell in Europe? ›- Decide where and what to sell, including considering local tax and regulatory requirements.
- Register an account and list your products.
- Ship your goods and fulfill orders.
- Manage your business, including customer support and returns.
E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services, or the transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network, primarily the internet. These business transactions occur either as business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer or consumer-to-business.
Is online shopping popular in Germany? ›Online shopping is omnipresent and part of our everyday life in Germany. 94 percent of all Internet users shop online which equals about 55 million German citizens. 66 percent of retailers sell their products both stationary and online – 25 percent exclusively stationary and 6 percent exclusively online.
What is the most popular store in Germany? ›
| Rank | Retailer | Turnover |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edeka | 61,000 |
| 2 | Schwarz (Lidl & Kaufland) | 45,300 |
| 3 | Rewe | 34,5322 |
| 4 | Aldi (Nord & Süd) | 28,600 |
Amazon.de is the most visited e-shop in Germany that estimated monthly traffic of 434.5 million visits in May 2021.
How big is the European eCommerce market? ›Revenue in the eCommerce market is projected to reach US$827.90bn in 2022.
How many online shoppers are in Europe? ›...
Number of online shoppers in selected European countries in 2021 (in millions)
So, how many eCommerce companies are there
We track over 7 million eCommerce websites across the world.
| Rank | Country | Ecommerce Spend Per Capita |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | United Kingdom | $4,201 |
| #2 | United States | $3,428 |
| #3 | South Korea | $2,591 |
| #4 | France | $1,946 |
- China. China is the world's biggest e-commerce market, led by e-commerce subsidiaries of the Alibaba group – Taobao, Alibaba.com and Tmall. ...
- United States. ...
- United Kingdom. ...
- Japan. ...
- South Korea. ...
- Germany. ...
- France. ...
- India.
China is by far the biggest e-commerce market in the world as seen in figures from the Statista Digital Market Outlook. Last year, e-commerce sales in the country stood at $1.3 trillion and that number is projected to increase to almost $2 trillion by 2025.
Is e commerce still growing? ›E-Commerce Adoption Continues
The growth of digital commerce represents a permanent change in how people shop. In fact, Morgan Stanley's industry model, along with other data, suggests that e-commerce will continue to gain traction, even in countries where online shopping is already popular.
Ecommerce, also known as electronic commerce or internet commerce, refers to the buying and selling of goods or services using the internet, and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions.
What is retail media network? ›
Through a retail media network, a retailer gives advertisers access to its first-party customer data and channels, such as the retailer's website or app. This allows brands to reach in-market consumers when they are in a purchasing mindset.
How popular is online shopping in Europe? ›Online shopping is very popular in the EU. The proportion of individuals aged 16-74 having shopped online in the 12 months prior to the 2021 survey stood at 66 % (Table 1).
How can I sell online in Europe? ›- Find an accountant in the EU. ...
- Register your US / UK business for VAT in Europe. ...
- Register your US / UK business for EORI EU. ...
- Make sure your freight forwarder has experience in shipping to the EU. ...
- Check if your goods comply with the EU requirements.
- Finding a good idea.
- Validating your idea.
- Finding reliable suppliers, including those for online import/export businesses.
- Creating a solid business and financial plan.
- Paperwork for setting up a legal entity.
- Seller registration process on Amazon.
- Get informed on local taxes and policies.
- Create an appropriate account.
- Upload your listings.
- Ship your products and fulfill your orders.
There are three main types of e-commerce: business-to-business (websites such as Shopify), business-to-consumer (websites such as Amazon), and consumer-to-consumer (websites such as eBay).
What are benefits of e-commerce? ›- Faster buying process.
- Store and product listing creation.
- Cost reduction.
- Affordable advertising and marketing.
- Flexibility for customers.
- No reach limitations.
- Product and price comparison.
- Faster response to buyer/market demands.
Advantages of e-commerce
Companies can reach a wider audience. Companies have lower operational costs. Shopping from home is more convenient for the consumer. Consumers can easily comparison shop across different brands.
As is the case with Amazon, German consumers place a lot of trust in eBay. The online marketplace is one of the pioneers in this field and is known to almost every online shopper. In addition, eBay also has a high monthly number of visitors.
Is eBay used in Germany? ›eBay began offering managed payments on its platform in the U.S. with a select group of eligible sellers in September 2018. Germany is now the second country to introduce the new experience. The company onboarded the first German sellers over the past few days.
How can I buy things online in Germany? ›
In order to go shopping online you will need to have either a German bank account (for Lastschrift, which is still the most popular payment option in Germany), a German credit card or a PayPal account. Furthermore you will need a German address where your order can be shipped to.
What is Germany famous for? ›Germany is well known for many things. It has a strong economy, it is the birthplace of classical music and philosophy, it has a rich culture, and it is known for its scenic beauty. Additionally, Germany is known for its engineering and automotive industry, as well as its precision manufacturing.
What is Germany famous for shopping? ›1. Schildergasse, Cologne. Considered to be the busiest shopping street in Europe, Cologne's Schildergasse has a long history that dates back to ancient Roman times. Today it is amongst the best places for shopping in Germany with major department stores and fashion outlets like Galeria Kaufhof, Zara, H&M, etc.
What is the biggest store in Germany? ›The KaDeWe is Berlin's largest and most famous department store. Its 60,000 square meters of retail space and gourmet floor attract visitors from all over the world. The Kaufhaus des Westens, KaDeWe for short, is more than just a well-stocked department store.
Is Amazon big in Europe? ›Amazon is available in eight European countries and it represents 24% of Amazon sellers globally. Amazon is present in eight European countries. Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and Poland make up Amazon's European marketplace.
How many people shop online Germany? ›...
Ecommerce in Germany.
| COUNTRY | GERMANY |
|---|---|
| Online sales | €83.3 billion (2020) |
| Online stores worth mentioning: | Otto, Zalando, Mediamarkt |
The firm also provided some 2020-2022 figures monitoring the subscribers' growth of Germany's biggest OTT platforms. Amazon leads with 13.8 million subscribers, followed by Netflix (10 million) and Disney+ (5.9 million).
How big is the European eCommerce market? ›Revenue in the eCommerce market is projected to reach US$827.90bn in 2022.
Which 3 countries spend the most on eCommerce? ›| Rank | Country | Ecommerce Spend Per Capita |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | United Kingdom | $4,201 |
| #2 | United States | $3,428 |
| #3 | South Korea | $2,591 |
| #4 | France | $1,946 |
...
Number of online shoppers in selected European countries in 2021 (in millions)
How many eCommerce companies are there? ›
So, how many eCommerce companies are there
We track over 7 million eCommerce websites across the world.
E-Commerce Adoption Continues
The growth of digital commerce represents a permanent change in how people shop. In fact, Morgan Stanley's industry model, along with other data, suggests that e-commerce will continue to gain traction, even in countries where online shopping is already popular.
E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services, or the transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network, primarily the internet. These business transactions occur either as business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer or consumer-to-business.
How many people are in the EU? ›| Characteristic | Share of retail e-commerce sales |
|---|---|
| Amazon | 37.8% |
| Walmart | 6.3% |
| Apple | 3.9% |
| eBay | 3.5% |
- China. China is the world's biggest e-commerce market, led by e-commerce subsidiaries of the Alibaba group – Taobao, Alibaba.com and Tmall. ...
- United States. ...
- United Kingdom. ...
- Japan. ...
- South Korea. ...
- Germany. ...
- France. ...
- India.
#1 top online marketplace: Amazon
One of the biggest benefits to selling on Amazon is the access to the marketplace giant's multi-million buyer base. However, a big challenge can be competition. For reduced competition, consider selling niche products.
Online shopping is very popular in the EU. The proportion of individuals aged 16-74 having shopped online in the 12 months prior to the 2021 survey stood at 66 % (Table 1).
Where do Europeans shop online? ›Amazon, eBay and AliExpress are the most popular marketplaces in Europe. Well-known marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy and AliExpress have a large influence in the European ecommerce market.
What is the benefits of online shopping? ›The convenience of online shopping
Customers can purchase items from the comfort of their own homes or workplace. Shopping is made easier and convenient for the customer through the internet. It is also easy to cancel the transactions. Saves time and efforts.
What are the benefits of eCommerce to business? ›
- Faster buying process. Customers can spend less time shopping for what they want. ...
- Store and product listing creation. ...
- Cost reduction. ...
- Affordable advertising and marketing. ...
- Flexibility for customers. ...
- Product and price comparison. ...
- No reach limitations. ...
- Faster response to buyer/market demands.
A rough estimate is in three months an average eCommerce site in the US makes over $150,000 in monthly revenues while business at the end of one year generates almost $330,000 in monthly revenue.
How many eCommerce businesses are successful? ›Around 80%-90% of them fail, meaning the e-commerce success rate is less than 20%. If you're starting your own online business, or you already run one, that fact might send a shiver down your spine. But fear not! While you can learn a lot from a successful business, you can learn a whole lot more from failure.